New Destiny FSC hosted its second successful Summer Reading Camp this year at Frank Lautenberg/School 6. The goal of this program was to help K-3 students improve their literacy level in a fun and engaging way. Twenty-seven students participated in a 4-week reading program, where they were assessed at the beginning and the end of the program. Reading specialists from Kimber’s Reading Express used the Ekwall/Shanker Reading Inventory ERP to test reading abilities. The Racial Initiative states that “Poor reading proficiency by the end of 3rd grade places children at risk of high school dropout, low earnings, teen pregnancy, poor emotional and physical well-being, and incarceration (Theracialinitiative.org).” As a Family Success Center, we understand the importance of prevention. Consequently, programs such as the Kimber’s Reading Program bring a rich learning experience to the children of our community. All of our Rising Readers showed improvement, but there were two that stood out. Student E and Student N are two of our Rising Readers. They are both going into third grade this fall and are two of our most improved students. When Student E started our program, she could recognize and spell about half of the sight words in the assessment, but at the end of the program she knew how to spell three quarters of the words. She also improved in understanding and using letter combination rules by 28%. Student E also raised her reading level from a frustrational level to an instructional level over the course of the program which shows improvement in word decoding and reading comprehension. Student N demonstrated the same improvement in her reading level from frustrational level to an instructional level. Student N showed improvement in reading and spelling sight words, recognizing, and spelling 38% more of the sight words at the end of the program. She improved recognizing vowels by 100%! All our students increased their score in at least three of the six scoring areas. Students entering Kindergarten improved most in letter and sound recognition and sight word recognition. 1st grade improved most in sight word recognition and spelling, letter sounds, and letter combo rules. 2nd grade improved most in all scoring areas. 3rd grade improved most in vowel recognition and reading and spelling sight words. They worked so hard, and we are so proud of them!